The Acadian Museum in Erath
recently received several very special gifts from their “cousins” in
Nova Scotia. Over 200 years after the deportation of the
Acadians, pieces of ancestral life have surfaced and were
handed over to the museum for safekeeping.

On April 25th Sara Beanlands, an archaeologist from Halifax,
Nova Scotia, donated seven pre- deportation artifacts to
the museum: a pipe stem, shoe buckle, two coins, a button
and two musket balls from a pre-deportation Acadian site
on land once known as Thibodeau Village near Windsor, Nova
Scotia.

In 1985 Dick Thibodeau, using a British-drawn 1756 map,
located and identified the site as
“Thibodeau Village,” the very land from which his direct ancestor,
Alexis Thibodeau, had been deported on October 14, 1755 and sent to Philadelphia.
Arnold Shaw, a Rhode Island planter- ancestor of Sara Beanlands, settled the
lands in 1760 and their family has remained on the property ever since.

These artifacts were discovered while ploughing the land
and are believed to date from the Acadian occupation of
the site between 1690 and 1755. Archaeological excavations
are currently being carried out.

On April 27, in recognition of her work to promote Acadian
culture Beanlandsth was named an honorary citizen of Lafayette
by Mayor Joey Durel.

“On behalf of the members and Board of Directors of the Acadian Museum
of Erath, we are delighted to receive these very rare pre-deportation artifacts,” said
Warren A. Perrin, Chairman of the museum. According to Perrin, the artifacts
will be displayed in the Acadian Room of the museum, which he believes to be
the only one of its kind in the state. The room houses Acadian artifacts from
as early as 1603.

“We are very grateful to Sara Beanlands and her parents, Hope and Gordon
Beanlands, for their kindness and support of our efforts to respect, preserve
and promote our Acadian heritage and history.”

The Acadian Museum, located at 203 South Broadway Street
in Erath, is open from 1-4 p.m. daily, and is open to the
public.